Dana Priest

Washington Post reporter Dana Priest has spent the majority of her career focusing on national security, military operations and the U.S. intelligence industry. A two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and three-time finalist, Priest uncovered secret CIA prisons in Eastern Europe and deplorable conditions for veterans at the Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington. In 2010 her project, “Top Secret America,” with William M. Arkin, covered the buildup in top-secret intelligence organizations in the aftermath of Sept. 11. It was expanded and published as a book and a “Frontline” documentary released in September 2011.

Dana Priest talks about the challenges of reporting on suspected al-Qaida terrorists in the controversial process called “rendition,” in which they are taken to CIA prisons in foreign countries for interrogation.

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National Security Concerns

Dana Priest talks about the challenges of reporting on suspected al-Qaida terrorists in the controversial process called “rendition,” in which they are taken to CIA prisons in foreign countries for interrogation.

Career Timeline

1981

Priest graduates from the University of California, Santa Cruz, with a bachelor’s degree in political science.

1985

Priest begins a master’s degree program at Columbia University in international affairs and takes on a couple of internships at newspapers beginning in the local section. Having a strong desire to work as a foreign correspondent, Priest is accepted by The Washington Post as a summer intern on the foreign desk.

Editing stories on the civil war in Lebanon and conflicts in Latin America, Priest is inspired to leave school and pursue a journalism career. Unable to be hired at the Post because of a lack of reporting experience, Priest takes a job at the St. Petersburg Times as a city reporter.

1986

Priest begins her career at The Washington Post as an assistant foreign editor, eventually transitioning to a metro reporter.

1987

Priest investigates poor conditions within the Postal Service and overcrowding in prisons, expanding her reporting to a national scale.

1989

1990

Priest travels to Iraq, hiding the pregnancy of her first baby, just before the start of the Persian Gulf War . She covers a group of women arguing for the release of their husbands, who were contract workers being held hostage by Saddam Hussein. A month later the war began, and while impressed with her reporting, the foreign editor wants Priest to return to Washington. But she asks to remain in the region, covering casualties.

1991

Priest continues to report on the military and also writes about Washington regulatory issues and the 1993 Clinton White House health care initiative.

1999

Priest covers the U.S. Army Special Forces in Asia, Africa and South America and then travels on peacekeeping missions in Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan with Army infantry units, eventually covering the war in Kosovo.

2001

Looking at how American generals, admirals and emissaries had independently shaped foreign policy, Priest writes a series called “The Proconsuls: A Four-Star Foreign Policy?” The series wins the Gerald R. Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on National Defense and the State Department’s Excellence in Journalism Award. Priest receives a MacArthur Foundation grant and is a guest scholar in residence at the U.S. Institute of Peace. She is also a guest speaker and host of “A Conversation on Civil-Military Affairs and US Diplomacy” for the Secretary’s Open Forum .

2005

Priest is named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting for her coverage of U.S. intelligence operations. She is also a Pulitzer finalist in National Reporting for her reporting on the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

2008

Priest becomes a regular contributor to “CBS Evening News” while continuing to report for The Washington Post.

2010

After a two-year investigation, Priest and Post colleague William Arkin write a series of articles, accompanied by an interactive website, called “ Top Secret America .” The series examines the post-Sept. 11 growth in government organizations and private companies that work on intelligence, counterterrorism and national security and how the system lacks adequate oversight.

2011

Based on their investigation, Priest and Arkin write the book “Top Secret America: The Rise of the New American Security State.” Priest also does an interview with the PBS show “Frontline.”